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Every year at this time, I always reassess what I’m doing creatively, reboot it, and start afresh. This was always prompted by the end of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, that month-long celebration of the arts and creativity in all its shapes and forms. This year, for various reasons, I’ve not gone to anything in the […]

Photos from a walk in the Murieston Trail, in the south of Livingston in West Lothian in Scotland. We’ve been fortunate here in that we have had plenty of rain following the hot weather, meaning the trees, grass and other plants have managed to stay hydrated. There was a sense in the air today, however. […]

Another of my old photography projects I’m thinking of resurrecting and/or using in forthcoming Call of Cthulhu scenarios – Statues of Edinburgh.

A few years ago, I used to review and shoot shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Part of me misses those days, but now I am a little bit older, I’m not sure I could keep up the same pace I used to. Nevertheless, the Fringe did give me my love of circus, cabaret, alternative […]

Researching Edinburgh history for my Call of Cthulhu scenarios set in the city gives me a perfect opportunity to revisit my old ’Ghost Signs of Edinburgh’ photos (and look for more …)

Little did these performers of Edinburgh Festival Fringes past know that one day these photos I took of them would end up being the inspiration for Call of Cthulhu scenario NPCs…

I am relishing viewing my hometown through the eyes of a Call of Cthulhu scenario designer. The city has legends, tales and stories everywhere you look, and it is a constant source of inspiration. Now that I am very much in the rhythm of creating scenarios, I am working on a side-project, a book of […]

It’s everywhere you look. Well, everywhere I look at least.

I’d heard pretty good things about Storytelling Collective’s Write Your First Adventure (WYFA) course. It promised to give you all the guidance, tips and motivation to create a scenario for a tabletop roleplaying game in 30 days. It did that. And it did a lot more (for me, at least.) It has successfully reignited my […]

Three months of study, training and practice is paying off. Whilst still far from perfect, I’m pretty happy with this Procreate illustration, intended as one of the chapter spreads for my Trinity Code role playing game system. Probably about 10 hours’ effort in this one, maybe a little less. It feels good to create something […]

Two games from my past had a profound impact on me, both appealing to my love of fantasy and of RPGs. One, obvious. Final Fantasy 7. Totally seminal, totally unlike anything I had ever played before. And a story that was, for all its little blocky anime trappings, profound in the extreme. The other, a […]

I am spectacularly rubbish at Elden Ring. After around 8 hours with it, I’ve already died more often than in an entire playthrough of Skyrim, and mostly at the hands of the relatively weak starter region enemies. Every time I set off from a place of relative safety, I end up being chased by a […]